1. Hiroshima & Nagasaki

2. Postdam Declaration
July 26, 1945 – “We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconstitutional surrender of all Japanese armed forces…the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction.”

3. Little Boy & the Enola Gay
Little Boy – uranium bomb
Weighs 9,700 pounds
10 feet tall
Equal to 200,000 regular bombs
Enola Gay – B-29 bomber
Piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, Jr. & 11 crew
Bomb was activated after it was released & took 45 seconds to explode 1900 feet above Hiroshima
“I knew we did the right thing… I thought, yes, we’re going to kill a lot of people, but by God we’re going to save lives.”

4. Hiroshima – August 6, 1945
Industrial City
Bomb – ball of fire spread 3 miles, temperature over 5,000F – Everything within one mile vaporized
Winds – shock wave went 7 miles in 30 seconds
Damage over 25 miles

5. Fat Man & Nagasaki
August 9, 1945 – industrial ship building city for Japanese navy
Fat Boy – plutonium A-bomb – much bigger
Exploded at 1,800 ft
Mountains helped to limit destruction

6. Aftermath More than 90% of buildings in Hiroshima destroyed
After the initial blast – nuclear fallout- radioactive particles are carried for miles
45,000 killed by immediate blast in Hiroshima & 22,000 in Nagasaki – thousands more die of other injuries
Black Rain – 30 mins after the bomb, black, sticky rain fell and spread radioactive material to more people
Radiation released enters the cells of a body and can kill days, weeks, months, or years after the bombing

7. Survivors - Hibakusha
Suffered from radiation burns, people’s bones melted inside their bodies, radiation poisoning, disfigured
No medical attention
Radiation Sickness – hair loss, bleeding in the gums & under skin, weight loss, diarrhea – start dying within 10 days
Cancer – leukemia…
“Red spots appeared on my body, my throat hurt, I couldn’t eat, I had a temperature, my gums bled, and my hair fell out. For twenty days I remained in bed, on the verge of death.” – Mikiso Iwasa, Hiroshima survivor

8. Japanese Surrender August 15, 1945 V-J Day
“The United States has begun to employ a new and most cruel bomb, the power of which to damage is, indeed, incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives.” – Emperor Hirohito to Japanese people
Sept. 15th, signing of surrender aboard the U.S.S. Missouri

9. Rebuilding U.S. aid workers & soldiers went to help rebuild afterwards
Peace Memorial Park
Hibakusha – survivors faced discrimination due to disfigured
Hiroshima Maidens – 25 Hiroshima survivors were brought to NYC to have 127 operations to help improve the disfigurement
“Because of my disfigured face, people often threw stones at me and mocked me, saying, ‘A monster is coming!” – Yamaoka Michiko

11. Resources Books: Hiroshima by Stewart Ross
The Manhattan Project by Dan Elish
Why did Hiroshima Happen? by R.G. Grant
HBO Documentary:
White Light, Black Rain
Websites: